European Union

Government is failing to reach the key targets it set itself as part of the Europe 2020 Strategy immediately after it came to power in 2011.  A new study from Social Justice Ireland published today, January 30th, 2012 shows that many of Ireland's major indicators on poverty and social inclusion are moving in the wrong direction.  Poverty has increased by almost 60,000.  Unemployment is not falling and the numbers employed are not increasing.

Proposals seek to address a major issue but insist the cause of the current crisis must be allowed to continue

On December 9, 2011 EU leaders agreed on the key changes to be introduced to tighten fiscal discipline in the Eurozone and address the bloc's debt problems. These changes propose an intergovernmental agreement outside the EU legal framework.

The EU Autumn Economic Forecast makes stark reading for Ireland and poses serious questions about Government’s reliance on exports as the basis of Ireland’s recovery.  It also calls into doubt the basis on which Budget 2012 is being developed.

A more comprehensive European approach to dealing with the region's debt crisis is needed to help Ireland regain access to debt markets, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday May 20, 2011.    The IMF went on to say that Europe needed to address the risk of financial stress in its periphery through a more "comprehensive" plan. 

This revised version was published following completion of the quarterly review for the end of the first quarter of 2011.

  The review andd the ratification process will be completed by:

The opening session of the UN Commision on Sustainable Development in New York saw the EU input totally ignoring the pollution, poisoning and impoverishment caused by many mining corporations.

While the texts produced by the Irish Government and the ECB/IMF/EU following the latter's review of Ireland's progress in implementing the Bailout agreement contained little information on changes or adjustments to the agreement, the latter's statement contained one blatent claim that seriously insults Ireland's poorest and most vulnerable people. 

This is the information supplied by the Irish Government on the revisions to the EU/IMF Bailout negotiated at the end of the second quarter of this Bailout. It was supplied on April 15, 2011.

EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support for Ireland 

The following is the full text of the statement by the ECB/IMF/EU team on completing their review of Ireland's Bailout. The statement was issued on April 15, 2011.